


Welcome to a New Life

by Talesofwriter



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Platonic Female/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 11:25:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11919897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talesofwriter/pseuds/Talesofwriter
Summary: So this is something I've been cooking up for a while now. I've played waaaay too much Tales of Xillia of recent and this idea of Gaius taking in a homeless woman and actually helping her put her life back together was nice. I liked how it played out in my head and hopefully it'll translate well.Note: This has since been edited by my dear dear friend Mikiri. The flow is so much better and i'm so rusty that hopefully her edits with help me not only keep this making sense but also to continue it and not get discouraged





	Welcome to a New Life

Gaius was confused. He wasn’t sure what was happening, or if he was even where he thought he was. There was no one around that he knew, and no one spoke to him. All he knew, he was in Trigleph, or so he thought, in the midst of twilight hours. All the street lights gave off only a faint glow, making it hard to see. He kept his senses as sharp as he could, but he could feel them getting dull by the moment. He grew angry as he couldn’t quite grasp his situation either. 

There it was again. The person who had haunted him for a while now. A mop of brown hair, a woman, but nothing else. She would flee so fast that he couldn’t get a good look. The hair wasn’t the right color, he knew that from what he could tell. How, he wasn’t sure, but his gut said he was right at least. He would follow his gut no problem. The scene then flashed by and he was standing in the hospital. The sudden change in location threw his senses off. 

“Where is she?” He called to the people who walked about, ignoring him. It was like he wasn’t there at all. This frustrated him immensely. He was standing right there in plain view and everyone walked by and around him, aimlessly, in a deathlike trance. Why couldn’t he have been back on the streets to search the alley ways? Why did this dream always turn out the same? 

“Where is my wife?!” There it was again, the line that would haunt him in the world of the awake. He never intended to marry, he loved no one. Not in that sense anyway. He had love for his sister, and his friends and that was all he needed. He was quite content with his life. 

Again though, the man who arrested his friend Kyle showed up, grinning in a way that said he won, but won what? He didn’t trust the man to begin with, not since he first met the boys. 

“What did you do to her?!” He marched up to him and grabbed him by the collar when he was within range to do so. The detective just laughed. 

“She’s dead.” That shattered everything, and made Gaius stagger back, unable to take the news. Why was he like this? What was the point of this dream again?

~

Gaius woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily as he tried to refocus. Every night, the same thing. This caused him a great deal of restless nights. No matter what he tried, it was the same thing. Alvin tried giving him some medicine that Jude recommended, but it didn’t work. Sometimes it made the dreams worse. When Jude found it, he almost punched Alvin which shocked everyone. Apparently the medicine could make nightmares and night terrors worse. 

He looked at his clock and groaned. Three hours of sleep again. He got up either way to get dressed. Even though it was only 4 in the morning, he decided to go into work and catch up on some paperwork that needed to be done. Vera and Muzet were going to kill him, but he didn’t care. Why bother staying in an empty home when you can’t sleep? He thought about moving but the problem was, he couldn’t cause too much activity that might raise suspicion. Most of Elympios still didn’t know what he looked like, and really, neither did Rieze Maxia. He took advantage of the anonymity to help protect his friend Ludger. Even after the events involving Kronos and Origin, there was still a threat to the man’s life thanks to Exodus and a new terrorist group that has no known name. The one with no name is what worried Gaius and the chancellor. They seemed to work as a group, but really, it was turning out to be more separate people acting on their own. 

Once Gaius finished getting dressed, he quietly walked out of his apartment, not bothering to eat first; that was another problem he was starting to have, and he ascended to work. He took the back way in so that no one saw him going in through the front. To the world, there was a mysterious man who had taken over Spirius Corp. temporarily for Ludger Kresnik. Everyone employed there, Rowan and company plus the Chancellor, were aware of Gaius being this figure. It was getting hard to trust some of the workers there though.

Once at the backdoor of the building, Gaius slipped into said building, but not before catching something out of the corner of his eye. He turned quickly only to see a cat sitting on the ground. He sighed in relief but knew something was going to have to change. He couldn’t keep living like this. He smiled slightly at the cat who meowed in response before walking in.

~

By the time 9am hit, every corner of the office was bustling with work. Ludger came in and made Gaius eat something before Muzet found out, but she did anyway and he was dealing with not only her but Vera as well.

“Gaius, this has to stop. You need to talk to someone about these dreams of yours.” Vera nodded in agreement with Muzet.

“Maybe a vacation will help? Two, three days max. The office won’t fall apart if you’re not here.” Vera was cold and calculating as usual. Gaius and Ludger looked at her and then at each other. Their faces reading that she was plotting something. 

“Absolutely not. Once we have the vast majority of the threat against Ludger neutralized then I’ll–” He didn’t get to finish thanks to Muzet breaking in.

“What? Go back to being king of all of Reize Maxia? I’m not even sure how this little plot is working. Poor Rowan must be swamped with work.” She was right about one thing. In his absence, Rowan took up the extra responsibility. It made those of Au Quile quite angry that they had to go to Fenmont to have an audience with Rowan, but they mostly understood the situation. But for how long? How long can they keep up the charade? Gaius sighed heavily which made Ludger frown. Ludger didn’t want this. He had been doing fine until suddenly there was an attack directed at him and Vera got hurt. Thus all of his friends came to his rescue. 

“I need time alone and I need to get my work done. I’m sure everyone here has task that they need to complete.” Gaius was frank, not hiding that he mainly wanted alone time. 

“But-” Ludger cut Vera off, shaking his head. Vera nodded and dismissed herself. Ludger then dragged Muzet out of the office, leaving Gaius alone at last. 

He turned his chair so that he was looking out over Trigleph. He missed home, his people, his city, the comfort the cold air of Kambalar brought him. He wouldn’t admit he was lonely at time, but it was mainly because it didn’t bother him. It was normal for people to feel lonely from time to time right? He then heard the buzz of the intercom and growled a bit. It was probably Muzet wanting to talk. He ignored it as his GHS rang. 

“Hello?” His voice was curt. 

“Gaius? Is everything alright?” Rowan sounded concerned. 

“Sorry, Muzet bugged me to death almost this morning. I’m still a bit on edge thanks to her I guess.” He rubbed his temple as he spoke to his prime minister. Maybe Rowan would give him the excuse he needed to ditch this false life and go back to being the king his people needed. 

“It’s alright, but I suspect you aren’t sleeping again aren’t you?” Gaius hated how well Rowan could read anyone over the GHS.

“Yes, only three hours last night. So I came in early.” 

“You need to take a few days off or start dating. Something.” Rowan sighed as he spoke, trying to reason with his friend. “Your people need you to be strong and here you are, wilting away.”

“I’ll be fine. According to the Chancellor, we only need to maintain this ruse another three months. Then I can finally come home” Gaius was confident that Ludger could then take care of everything. They just needed to push past this last stretch. 

“Well, if I may; You are needed home soon. Your sister has just demanded to see you. She’s been worried about you, you know.” Rowan softened his tone.

“I know. I’ll come home soon just to talk with her. We need to work a few things out.” Gaius readjusted his tie as his mind finally started to calm down. Talking to Rowan did that, even if it was about work. “How are things otherwise?”

“The citizens of Au Quile just await your return. Things have been going as smooth as can be. The rough patches are mainly due to the whole peace treaty we signed not too long ago.”

That was good. His citizens were going on without him. While it bothered him, that meant the tribe relations were better than before. The intercom on the desk buzzed again.

“Hold on Rowan,” he took his GHS away from his ear and onto his lap. He then hit the button to talk to whoever was interrupting this time. 

“Yes, what is it?” He demanded, not knowing who it was calling for him.

“Security is here” Vera’s voice came over the intercom, “they say that the person they have is trespassing and soliciting.” 

Gaius’ eyebrows knotted together as he thought. 

“Send them in.” He would almost regret that. “Rowan, something came up, let me call you back.” With that he flipped his GHS closed as the guards came in with a woman who was unkempt, but kept at the same time.

“Let me go! How can you guys just waltz in with a homeless woman not even considering that my stench may make a few throw up.” 

Gaius looked at the woman between two of the security guards. He agreed with her on that statement. Something told him that they brought her in by mistake.

“What was she doing?” Gaius got down to business. The woman looked at him a bit shocked. She heard the rumors but wasn’t sure what to make of them.

“So you’re this mysterious CEO?” the grip the guard had on her arm tightened. “OW! Don’t act like he’s some high and mighty man who can’t talk to low lifes.” 

“Quiet you!” The guard turned his attention back to Gaius. “She was soliciting outside. No one knows who she is and has no papers. We wanted to know what to do with her.” The woman was annoyed now.

“So you ask your boss what to do with me? I’m homeless, haven’t bathed in at least a month, probably tracked some sort of dirt into the building and all of this for you guys to ask ‘what do we do with her?’ Intelligent? I think not…” Gaius tried not to snicker at the snide remark she made. 

“Again, she has a point. Why didn’t you just call the authorities?” The guards just glared at him. This wouldn’t be good.

“This woman was soliciting, asking some people for gald probably.”

“Or a job, which you blew thanks.” This got Gaius’s attention. Some of his drinking buddies mentioned hiring some people who lived on the streets. There was one in particular that mystified them. She would work long enough for some food and then leave. Maybe this was that girl?

“Tell me,” this drew the woman’s attention since she knew he directed it at her, “where do you hail from?”

“Reize Maxia.” This caught his interest. That was why she was under the table for work and didn’t stick around long. She had no paper’s whatsoever and hailed from a foreign country. 

“Where are your documents?”

“Lost them a while ago. Well more like had them ripped away from me.” She wasn’t going to go any further. 

“Leave us.” He looked at both security guards. They were appalled. 

“But why?!” One demanded to know.

“Because she’s now an employee of Spirius. Ludger could use help in his section.” The woman was shocked. She couldn’t legally hold down a job and yet here she was being given one. The guards tried to argue further, but Gaius heard nothing of it from them.

“Leave us now.” He kept his cool. He wouldn’t get riled up over insubordinate employees. As they left, he hit the button on his intercom and prayed that Vera would answer.

“Vera?” Gaius called for her in a softer tone than the woman heard before.

“Yes? How can I help?” 

“Could you and Muzet come into my office and help me?” 

“Certainly.” Within a few moments, Vera glided in, Muzet following rather close behind. 

“Oh, what’s that awful smell?” Muzet covered her nose as she scrunched it in disgust. The woman just sighed.

“That would be me. Those idiot guards brought me in here. Least they could have done was hose me down with water.” That no one disagreed on. At least she said the insult herself.

“Could you help this woman clean up first? Then maybe take her out shopping for proper work attire. As of now, she’s Spirius’ new employee.” This shocked Vera, but she didn’t let it show for long. Muzet wasn’t too shocked. Gaius loved helping people and she needed help.

“As you wish sir. Muzet, why don’t you see if Nova is available? She’s much better at shopping than I am.” Muzet smiled.

“Aw, but where’s the fun?” Gaius put his elbows onto the desk, weaved his fingers together so that they locked into place so that he could rested his chin on his hands. 

“Please, just do whatever is necessary to clean her up and make her presentable.” Muzet clapped her hands together. 

“Alright! Make over time!” She grabbed the woman’s arm, but was stopped by Vera. 

“First, a name.” The woman blinked a few times at Vera.

“Emily.” Vera frowned.

“That’s not much to go on.” 

“Yeah well, when you get trapped by the terrorist group that wants to destroy the peace, you tend to leave trivial things behind.” Gaius looked at her intrigued. 

“Emily, please let Muzet and Vera take care of you. I will introduce you to Ludger tomorrow. As for today, get your head wrapped around the idea of no longer being out on the streets.”

Emily cocked her head to the side, “What do you mean by that?” Her inquiry was soft and almost sweet.

“From now on, you live with me.” Vera and Muzet were shocked by this. Emily was just confused.

“I have plenty of room and if it works out to our advantages, we won’t even bump into each other, even if we are both at home.” Emily crossed her arms over her chest.

“You lock yourself in your room too? Should be fun…” She muttered the last part to herself.

“Vera, use what I have to help her clean up for now. I’ll let her do some of her own personal shopping tomorrow when we get off.” Vera nodded but Muzet had other plans.

“Don’t worry sir, we'll take care of her.” 

“Thank you, and Emily?” He called to her before they left. She turned to look at him, her hair slick with oil and dull with dirt, making it hard to tell if it’s the same color he has seen in his dreams.

“Yes?”

“Welcome to your new life”


End file.
